An Unenergetic but Happy Winter
by Monoga Syobu
Summary: A one-shot of Once in the Midsummer. Flann spends her first cold season with her hunt partner Ceitauk. It was not as energetic as the summer, yet she can find the joy and warmness of the friendship through the cold and silent time. Rate T for the language and light mature reference.


A little gift for the New Year. Let's just say I want to celebrate a winter time, neh? :"

It's quite a small idea I come up when I listen to the song "Song for the Storming Night" of Secret Garden. It doesn't have anything to do with the story, but I got some images in my head while listening to it.

Anyway, it's a one shot about the two characters Ceitauk and Flann from Once in the Midsummer. It's some moments afterward, when the girl comes and lives with the Predator. They almost do everything they did in the previous chapters, so it's not a spoiler or anything. :)

As usual, I don't own the Predators, only Flann. And please review.

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An Unenergetic but Happy Winter

Flann curled up and squeezed tight the fur with both her arms and legs. The suns had risen for a while already and the heat had woken her, yet she did not want to get up yet. The pelt of the beast she spent a lot of efforts to hunt had finally dried and she was enjoying its fluffiness. Ceitauk had gone somewhere without waking her. More reasons to be lazy.

For a long time, Flann would not even dream of the day she could have the peace of mind and allow herself to be lazy like this. She had thought the only sole of her life was to live and eliminate her kind. At that time, she did not know what else to do anyway. And if she did not kill them all, there would be more crazy creatures roaming around Earth, crying and slaughtering everything they saw in front of. It sounded enough like Apocalypse-something to her.

Suddenly, Flann got an uneasy feeling. She instinctively got up and caught whatever was flying toward her. Then she realised it was a heavy bag of greens and herbs. Before she knew it, another heavy bag hit her. She made a painful "Gah!" Since this one filled with nuts and fruits, it was even heavier.

"Ouch!" she hissed. "Don't roughly throw food around like that! You'll damage them!" She crawled out of the bed and noticed her hunt comrade Ceitauk dropped two dead antelope-liked aliens and a few more bags of fruits and nuts onto the floor.

"You could've woken me, you know?" She continued, noticing the strange huge and heavy amount of foods he had collect. She bet no one could have noticed him when he was carrying everything back here (because everything had covered his body). Normally they went together so that they could carry the food easier.

"You seemed to need a lot of sleep yesterday, when you had just finished the training," he said while putting down his weapons and armour.

She yawned. "Yeah…the training was really harsh. Not to mention Master pushing me more than the others. It was interesting to learn more hunting techniques, but I'm glad it finished… If you emphasised my stress so much, why did you wake me up like that?" Flann grumbled, remembering his attacks. Sometimes they challenged each other with some little assaults to train their instincts and entertain themselves. Not all of them were enjoyable, though. At least in sleeping case of Flann.

His upper mandibles rose, forming a wicked grin. "To see if you'd let your guard off just because of the stress." Being satisfied with her annoyed growl, Ceitauk continued as he picked up the dead aliens and came to the cooking quarter. "You should get up anyway. We have to prepare for the cold season or you'll be dead."

"Are you trying to scare me?" She stood up and tied back her long red hair. Then she brought the bags he threw at her to the kitchen. "I kinda like cold season, you know? Will there be snowy?"

"A lot. You'll be terrified." He turned to her and showed his wicked grin again.

"Oh. Since you're so wary of it, will you be terrified too? I heard you guys aren't so thrilled with the coldness." Flann purred as she leaned onto his side, playing along with his tease. "Worry not. You can always hold me tight when it gets so chilly."

He growled and lightly pushed her head. "A small body like yours can't possibly warm me up. I'd rather find a mate to hold."

Flann giggled. Sometimes their little challenge and tease were just too much for her. She was not sure what she should feel about his statement, though. At some points, she was very happy about their current friendship since she had none before. However, she was somewhat uneasy when the females of his kind picked and mated Ceitauk. One time Flann only accidentally had a glance at the process. Quite brutal, but she was sure her hunt comrade would call it pleasure. Somehow she just wanted to give him a kick without figuring out the reason. Even right now, she could not comprehend that disturbing feeling. Regardless, the more she thought about it, the more she got headache. She decided to concentrate on helping Ceitauk prepare the food. He still had to butcher both dead animals, so she opened the bags that filled with edible fruits, nuts, and plants. Seeing the unusual large amount of food he brought home today, she realised that he did not just scare her about the weather.

A few cycles later…

Flann made a small shiver as she put on more warm fur clothes she had made for the winter. She had thought that the only season that would disturb her sleep would be the summer season, when her kind cried in agony. However, the winter here could do the trick as well with the snowstorms and the blizzard. She learned that the cold season was when the Predators stayed at home the longest. They at least could contact and meet each other since there was hallways connected most of the dwellings in each clan. The Predators did not look like it, but they had their way to be sociable. Hunting outside was strictly limited though since the Predators were not very energetic during the cold season. And they might get frozen before they realised it. Thus, whenever Ceitauk and Flann hunted, they had to get enough food to store for many days. For the first time, Flann just wanted to run back to the dwelling as fast as she could when the hunt was finished. Ceitauk was not happy about the weather either, so he felt exactly the same.

Fortunately, when the cold season came, there were enough beasts with fine, thick pelts and edible meats appeared around the territory of Predators. They did not have to worry much about warm fur and food. The walls of the dwellings were really thick, but they contacted with the blizzard most of the time, so they made the interiors cold a bit. However, there was a huge frame at the centre of the dwelling, where Ceitauk used as the dining spot, acted as the fireplace or fire pole. It could not heat up of the dwelling, but at least it would not be unbearable cold. Flann heard that the number of the frame depended on how large and complicate the dwelling was. Ceitauk's was simple, so one was enough to warm the place.

'Still, this planet is crazy,' Flann thought while pulling the fur to above her head. 'I thought days in the dark and blizzard in Earth had already been frightening enough, but now I have to reconsider. At least I don't have to be worried about sleeping too long.'

A creature like Flann still needed as much sleep as a normal human being. In addition for being a plant creature, she slept even more during the winter. However, she could not do that on Earth because she used to live in a cave of the harsh forest Aisling. It was extremely cold at night, so she had to sleep during the daytimes of the whole winter. The last time she slept at night, she woke up and found the fire went out and her body almost got frostbite. Although it was really a trauma for Flann for a while, she still loved winter because it was the quietest time of the year.

'Then how come am I being disturbed by it right now?' she mentally wondered. 'And where the _heck_ is that octopus-haired alien?'

After the hunt of today, Ceitauk had left along with some good food he got by himself.

'Don't tell me he's really going to find a female to mate and cuddle tonight? Like the rest of the males?' she guessed in disturbed. Flann had already seen most of the males she knew courted the females at the hallways. Actually for the Predators, such a cold winter like this was really an appealing time to seek warm for others through sex. Then a Honourable Hunter like Ceitauk would not be an exception. 'Well, why should I care? He had not mated with anyone for a long time. Bet he can take ten or twenty females within a day…'

She got up and roared.

"Yeah! Why should I care? Maybe I can go find Rakjah and rape him myself…" For a moment, Flann noticed that she declared the most ridiculous thing. She could physically beat up a two meter tall Predator with no problem, but mating? She did admire some Predators for their status and strength, but she had never felt sexually aroused. Also, Rakjah might sometimes court her, but she had a hunch that he was as busy entertaining some females right now as his hunt brother.

'On the second thought, sleeping is more like a good idea.' She lied down and covered herself with the warm furs again. The dwelling was so quiet and Flann only heard the sounds of snowstorm beating the walls. Soon, she fell asleep.

A couple of hours later, instinctively she opened her eye and raised her left plant arm. It gripped an arm that almost touched her face. Then she noticed that Ceitauk was sitting next to her right side, leaning forward with his right hand planted near the side of her head. His mandibles moved a bit as she made a confused face. A moment later, she made a wry face when she smelled different scents on his body. They included his own odour, the smell of alcohol and food, the odours of different females, the scent of Predators' blood, and the burnt smell of medical ointment.

"I thought you wouldn't be back for awhile," she mumbled while pushing him away. Without forgetting to give him a few playful stop-scaring-me punches. "Why should you disturb my short hibernation? Your mate threw you out or something?"

"Practically." He rubbed his arm, which was still sored after getting hit the wall when he was thrown.

'_Uh-oh._' Flann did not think her sarcasm was true.

"Actually, I remember that I can't allow you to be lazy in my place all the time just because it's cold season. Your first one, also." Before Flann could understand, Ceitauk picked both her and the fur up. She always got surprised when he did that, still being familiar with the image of the Predator who did not make much physical contact with anyone. Except for the sexual contact with the females, of course.

He put her down at the dining spot, where food and drink were placed. Apparently Ceitauk had prepared them while she was still sleeping. Seeing some of her favourite wild vegetables and meats, Flann suddenly felt hungry. However, the huge jar of liquor made her worried.

"You still can drink?" She raised her eyebrow.

"I only had five so far," Ceitauk answered as if she asked something weird.

''Only had five' your…_ass_.'

One of the things she had learned about her hunt comrade: He can drink a lot. Also, one drink ware of the Predators should be as big as her head or even bigger. And the liquor had strong, drunken scent with absinthe-liked colour. The alcohol content was so high that she had never been able to finish half of one drink.

Then again, Flann got used to it somewhat. She found the liquor had the interesting and addictive taste of fresh herb. It was quite reluctant at first, but now she could drink with the Predators in their occasions. Also, the drink would warm her up, so it suited the cool temperature of the dwelling.

She loved the tastes of the meat and wild vegetables as well because they reminded her of how rough it was in order to collect them. The girl felt how great it was to enjoy the fruit of their hard work.

"So this is how you guys spend time during the cold season?" She asked as she finished the food and started to sip the liquor slowly.

"At least that was how I was literally," Ceitauk answered. "Hardly believe I was sulking that long. And while I knew it was pathetic, I couldn't move a muscle until I needed to hunt." Flann hardly looked at Ceitauk as she knew he talked about the time when he had just lost his mates and pups. He rarely showed the painful emotion, but she would sense it if she looked at him. "Rakjah came occasionally. He had no idea how to cheer me up. Beating me would not even work, so he just came and bothered me with his cold, awkward, uncomfortable sight. Yet I was grateful."

'Is he praising him or mocking him?' Flann wondered. 'I can't understand this pair.'

"Well, now you don't need the sight of that reptile anymore. The sight of your new mates can cheer you up," she rumbled, referring to dirty stuffs.

He turned to her. "You're capable of doing that too."

Flann made a weird expression. "What?"

"Cheer me up. You know how to lead me around with your attacks. That makes everything less boring than you can image."

'Ah…' She sighed in relief. For a moment, she almost misunderstood his words. "I…I should say the same."

After that, they discussed more about what should they bring for the hunt when the snowstorm was over. There was this prey they was chasing after during this cold season, but it was so stubborn and feral that they had not been able to catch it yet. Not to mention the cold weather made them weaker and gave them more disadvantages. It was so furious for both of them. And the wild beast even made a face and a noise as if they were losers. Remembering that moment, they determined not to hunt anything else until they stocked it as the reserved food.

"There's one thing I forgot to ask you." Flann suddenly remembered. "You call both Rakjah and me hunt siblings or hunt comrades. Then why do I rarely see you hunting with him?" Through countless times Rakjah and Ceitauk bragged about themselves, she learned that the times they hunted together barely passed half of the times she hunted with Ceitauk.

He made some dark clicking sounds. "I did say we get along, but Rakjah was a terrible one in cooperation. Not that he always steal the preys or anything. It's just that we often ended up fighting for the chance of making the final strike."

'_Woah, woah._ He's still angry. He's still angry.' Flann leaned away a bit when she smelled the danger from Ceitauk.

"It took so long that the preys easily got away. We usually got angry toward each other and meaninglessly continued to fight." Ceitauk could tell that Flann was trying not to laugh. Annoyed, he roughly messed her hair. "So there you are. Be proud that you're a better partner than that reptile."

"In order word, I'm too gentle to be a troublemaker for you," she mumbled while fixing her hair.

"Both of you are troublemakers," Ceitauk stated straightly. "You're just more pleasant to deal with."

Flann chuckled in sarcasm. It did not sound pleasant at all, but she was really happy that he considered her as a good partner.

'Hold on…that means my efforts of annoying him turn out to be something amused him. That's kinda hurt.' She pulled the fur to her head so that it covered her from top to toe, and then she leaned on Ceitauk's arm. "I guess we'll stick with each other longer than we can think of. Tell me when you can't stand me anymore, alright?"

He responded to her touch by raising the arm, holding her, and pulling her toward him. "I doubt that can happen."

Although being somewhat reluctant, she let him gently rub her head. His clawed fingers felt the soft hair and the rough plant side of her head. That made Flann sleepy, so she snuggled closer to his warm body and closed her eye. Whatever happened next, she did not care. Ceitauk would carry her back to the bed later anyway.

The hunter watched as the little creature slowly fell asleep.

'Why should she be worried about staying here when she can stay forever?'

Then again, he knew that this female was inexperienced and shy in mating, to the point that she considered that to be (somewhat) weird. Ceitauk had to question when she would go outburst and want to mate like other females.

"…"

The hunter did not really look forward for that version of Flann now.

He turned to observe her again, hardly believing that he had gone through many things together with a different kind. Flann challenged him for many battles and hunts, mocking him if he did not fight her and getting all excited when he threw all his strength and skills out. Yet there were times, like the first time when she held him tight, she would show how weak and vulnerable she could be. Like right now, she looked defenceless and utterly carefree. It made him realise how much she trusted him and how much he wanted to protect her if there was anything could harm her.

That sounded like an unnatural lifestyle for a Predator, but he had no regret.

'Quite an abnormal relationship I got myself involve into,' he thought as he gently petted her again. The wind and the snow were still beating the walls outside as the hunter enjoyed the tiresome but peaceful moment with his little hunt partner.

Meanwhile, Flann was being overjoyed and arrogant as she managed to catch a big prey before Ceitauk did in her dream.


End file.
